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Fussiness and Trouble Nursing

Hi!
I have a beautiful 8 week old daughter who I EBF. She fed very well up until about two weeks ago. For the past two weeks, she has been very fussy all day long. She won't sleep longer than five minutes during the day. Even at night, she's up every 1-2 hours, where she used to give me 3-4. The most frustrating thing, though, is that she's having trouble feeding. She will latch on, feed for 2-5 minutes, pull off, fuss, latch back on, then almost immediately pull off again. She just keeps pulling off, but still acts hungry and fussy. She does it at all feeding a except her night time ones. I've tried multiple holds, switching breasts, moving to a quiet room...nothing seems to work. I just don't know what to do. She's never had a problem before...she's nursed like a champ from day one, has excellent weight gain, and has been a very happy baby up until about 2 weeks ago. She still has happy smiley periods throughout the day, but is much fussier than normal.
What could be the cause of this latching, unlatching, crying, latching, unlatching, crying, etc. pattern??
Oh, and if it means anything, I'm a FTM.

Re: Fussiness and Trouble Nursing

I agree with mommal. This sounds like baby is in discomfort, so the first thing I would look at is a medical issue-ear infection, some other illness that might cause a headache or sore throat, even thrush maybe? Reflux would casue baby to be particularly uncomfortable when laying flat,. but of course if a baby is hurting baby prefers to be held anyway.

The second thig to consider after a illness is an allergy to something you are eating. Folks here know I am the last person typically to suggest this, but the behavior you describe at the breast and the inability to sleep much at all, especially coming after no previous issues, sounds very much like allergy.

If it is allergy, the suggested approach is to systematically eliminate possibly offending foods for a week or two and see if it helps. By far the most common allergen via breastmilk is cow milk/dairy, so that is where I would suggest starting, unless there is somethign you know you only began eating (or eating a lot of) about two weeks ago when symptoms started and you could start there.

Say you start with dairy,- if symptoms clear up after eliminating dairy, after a couple of weeks you can test it by drinking a couple glasses of milk in a day and see if they come back. If they don't, the issue was not dairy. If they do, it probably is, and you will need to continue to eliminate dairy from your diet for a while and be careful about introducing dairy later when your baby starts being introduced to complimentary foods*. (*Anything besides breastmilk)

Re: Fussiness and Trouble Nursing

Oh, I didn't think of an ear infection, but I wonder if that's it. She just had a cold shortly before all this started. I forgot to mention it, but she has also been pooping and spitting up A LOT more too, which I know can be a symptom of an infection. She hasn't had a fever yet, but I know that doesn't necessarily mean anything.
I was wondering about an allergy, but I haven't started eating anything different. Would that matter?
I will call her pediatrician tomorrow. She has her 2 month on Wednesday, but I don't want to push it.
Thanks so much for your answers!

Re: Fussiness and Trouble Nursing

Allergies can appear at any time so no, it would not matter if you had not eaten anything different, it could still be allergy.

But allergies are uncommon enough that I would persue the possibility of ear infection or other illness first, for sure.

I forgot to mention it, but she has also been pooping and spitting up A LOT more too, which I know can be a symptom of an infection.

I dont know about infection, but lots of poop and spit up along with the other issues you describe are indications of overprduction and forceful letdown. Has that been considered? again, this is more common than allergy but often very similar in 'symptoms.'

Re: Fussiness and Trouble Nursing

My second did that when I was dealing with oversupply. Block nursing helped. He also had very foamy green poo. All three of mine have reflux. They make sour faces and lots of noise while laying around.....kind of like squeaks. Does any of that happen with your little one?

Re: Fussiness and Trouble Nursing

I'm so sorry, I'm just now seeing this! Didn't mean to ignore you. No green foamy poo for my girl, and no squeaks either, except happy laughy squeaks. I did bring her to the doctor, and she checked out great...perfectly healthy. I mentioned checking for an allergy, and they said they doubted that was it because of her good weight gain, but to give eliminations a try anyway. I've been off dairy for a week with no change...I might try another week to be sure. Her ped said she suspected reflux. She said I should just continue to burp her often, to try elevating her while eating, and lastly to try gas drops. She doesn't always burp, and when she does she doesn't seem less fussy, and being more upright does nothing. Should I try the gas drops? I have some, but I don't really like the idea, but if it would help it might be worth it. I don't know...anybody have any other suggestions?

Re: Fussiness and Trouble Nursing

I am going to throw this one out there...you are probably entering the time when your production is regulated by supply & demand, instead of the YOWZA-style MILK production fed by hormones. do you think maybe she's reacting to reduced (not slow, just reduced) flow? As in, "Hey, it used to spray like a fire hose and now I'm having to work for my supper! Where's my milk?"

At night, your flow is probably much stronger, so that's what made me think of it. Maybe compressions will help? You mentioned you are already switching sides more often.